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49 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
deductive approach
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*an approach to inquiry in which one begins with abstract ideas and principles then works toward concrete, empirical evidence to test the ideas (theory-->evidence)
*usually found in quantitative research *general--->specific *follows logically from available facts *top-down |
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inductive approach
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*an approach to inquiry in which you begin with concrete, empirical evidence, then work towards abstract ideas or general principles
*involves a degree of uncertainty *evidence-->theory *usually found in qualitative research *specific-->general *"bottom-up approach" |
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Theory
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*a generalization about a phenomenon
*an explanation about why something occurs *scientific vs. common-sense theories *significance: organizes knowledge, predicts certain outcomes |
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What are the parts of a theory?
CAR |
*Concepts: building blocks of a theory
*Assumptions: things not observable or testable *Relationships: Theory offers reason for why relationships exist |
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qualitative research
(hint: methods=GAPED) |
*information in the form of words, pictures, sounds, objects
*methods:ethnography, phenomenology, discourse analysis, grounded theory *inductive approach *holistic *flexible *exploration |
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quantitative research
methods=DICC |
*information in the form of numbers
*deductive approach *methods: descriptive, inferential, correlational, and cause comparative research *goal is prediction, control, confirmation, test hypotheses *attitudes, beliefs, knowledge(instruments) *can use scales *studies the relationship between concepts and variables--E.g. grades and hours spent in the library |
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basic research
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*advances fundamental knowledge about the social world.
*focuses on developing, testing, and supporting theories that explain how the social world operates, why they operate as they do, and how society changes *significance: the source of most new scientific ideas |
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applied research
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*attempts to solve a concrete problem or address a specific policy question
*has a direct, practical application *significance: helps with decision-making. (i.e. Should a company market a skin care product to adults instead of teenagers?) |
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Post hoc ergo propter hoc
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*After it, therefore, because of it(ATB)
*significance: based upon the mistaken notion that simply because one thing happens after another, the first event was a cause of the second event. |
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independent variable
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*The first variable that causes or produces the effect in a causal explanation
*variable the researcher manipulates *the cause variable *identifies forces or conditions that act on something else *significance: iv's affect or have an impact on other variables *EX: How fast the grass grows depends on how much rain we get. (how much rain we get is the independent variable) |
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dependent variable
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*The variable that is the effect, result, or outcome of another variable
*the effect variable *most basic causal relationship *significance: does not need to impact other variables *EX: How fast the grass grows depends on how much rain we get. (how fast the grass grows is the dependent variable) |
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Operationalization
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*links a conceptual definition to a specific set of things you do
*connects the language of abstract ideas with that of concrete, empirical measures *significance: can help you draw on ideas from other studies and go beyond the data of a specific research setting *part of the measurement process |
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Conceptualization
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*the process of carefully thinking through a construct's meaning
*significance: requires you to be very clear in making definitions for your study so other people can understand it from your point of view *part of the measurement process *Conceptualization->Operationalization |
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Construct
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*an idea or theory containing various conceptual elements
*subjective *not based on empirical evidence |
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Spuriousness
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*A statement that appears to be a causal explanation, but is not because of a hidden, unmeasured, or initially unseen variable
*significance: the unseen variable comes earlier and has a causal impact on the dependent/independent variables |
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Creswell's definition of quantitative research
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*"an inquiry into a social or human problem based on testing a theory composed of variables, measured with numbers, and analyzed with statistical procedures, in order to determine whether the predictive generalizations of the theory hold true
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Assumptions
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*statements about the nature of things that are not observable or testable
*part of a theory |
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Backward mapping
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*find one good journal article closely related to your study, use the bibliography from this article as your search guide
*significance: follow up on all sources that appear related to your dependent variable |
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Forward mapping
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*use databases to find articles related to your study
*significance: this will save time (?) |
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Scales
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*captures the intensity, direction, level, or potency of a variable construct along a continuum
*a type of quantitative data measure *significance: to measure social behaviors/variables |
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Indexes
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*the summing/combining of many separate measures of a construct or variable
*significance: deals with the issue of multidimensionality |
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Reliability
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*the consistency of your measurement, or the degree to which an instrument measures the same way each time it is used under the same circumstances
*the repeatability of your measurement! *PIIS types of reliability *significance: tests how stable, how dependable, etc., a measure is |
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Validity
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*truthfulness: does the test measure what it sets out to measure?
*You cannot have validity w/o reliability! *CCCF types of validity *significance: *the degree to which measurement tools accomplish the purpose for which they're being used |
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Confirmation (selection) bias
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*is a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses
*significance: could screw with your data and mess up the whole study |
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Literature Review Thesis Statement
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*offers an argument or observation about the literature on your topic
*lit review adds to the "conversation among scholars at a dinner party" |
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What is a research question?
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*refer to the relationships among a small number of variables
*a clear, focused, concise, arguable q around which you center your research *raises a problem that if not answering it keeps us from knowing something more important than its answer *significance: what you want to answer by the end of your study (or, answered by the thesis statement?) |
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What is a hypothesis?
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*links 2 variables together
*the statement form a causal explanation that has at least one independent and one dependent variable, but has yet to be empirically tested *must be testable *i.e. People who work out together are likely to have more fun than people who don't. *significance: to develop a starting point for research |
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What is an attribute?
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*a specific value on a variable
*describes the intensity or strength of attachment to attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors *significance: male is an attribute of the variable gender |
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abstract
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*short summaries on the first page of the article
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soft data
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*qualitative
*in the form of impressions, words, sentences, photos, symbols, etc. *dictate different research strategies and data collection techniques |
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hard data
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*quantitative
*in the form of numbers *dictates different approach o a study |
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control variable
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*constant
*affects dependent variable |
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"So What?"
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*This question answers why others should care about your work
*the ticket into the conversation of your community of researchers |
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What is communication?
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*process by which verbal and nonverbal messages are used to create and share meaning.
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What are 4 components of the communication model?--PMCC
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1)people
2)messages 3)channels 4)contexts |
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What is research?
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*studious inquiry
*strategies researchers use to solve "puzzles" *means used to collect evidence necessary for testing explanation about something being studied |
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Mixed-methods approach
(what are 6 core characteristics? PAID PC) |
*mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches
*collection, analysis, integration, philosophical, design, persuasive |
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Another way to look at deductive research
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Theory-->Hypothesis-->Observation-->Confirmation
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What are three things you need to establish causality?
Hint: ATE |
1) Temporal-order
2) Association (of causality) 3) Eliminate alternative explanations |
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What is the goal of your study?
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*A research statement
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How to begin...
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find JUST THOSE DATA that you need to ANSWER YOUR QUESTION
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If a researcher wants to understand why a policy failed,
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the study's dependent variable is the failure of the study
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What is your topic? (in terms of variables)
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the dependent variable
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What are characteristics of causal hypotheses?
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*at least 2 variables
*express a cause & effect relationship *can be expressed as a prediction or expected outcome *falsifiable-->testable against empirical evidence to be false/true |
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What is a quantitative approach?
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*a formal, objective process in which numerical data are used to obtain info about the world
*main feature: produces generalizable findings, purpose of research is to measure concepts & variables *make sure you're studying not "what ought to be", but rather, "what is" *mathematically-based methods |
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What are some quant. research characteristics?
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*about qualifying the relationships between variables
*construct statistical methods *the researcher knows in advance what he/she is looking for |
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What is quant. research process?
THRDS APAW |
*theory
hypothesis r.d. devise measures of concepts data administer research instruments process data analyze data write up conclusions |
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What are diff. types of quant. research?
DICC |
descriptive, inferential, correlational, cause comparative
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What are advantages/limitations of quant. research?
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advantages: provides estimates of populations, has precision, indicates extensiveness of ppls' attitudes
limitations: categories that are used might not reflect data, confirmation bias, knowledge produced might be too abstract & general |